62 FREE WAYS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS PROFITS:

Transcription

1 JAY CONRAD LEVINSON 62 FREE WAYS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS PROFITS: Plus Dozens of Other Marketing Tactics to Attract New Customers and Keep Them Buying 1

2 THE COMPLETE GUERRILLA MARKETER S STUDY GUIDE JAY CONRAD LEVINSON The Sessions The Power of Guerrilla Marketing Guerrilla Marketing Weapons Guerrilla Marketing Weapons Guerrilla Marketing Weapons Guerrilla Marketing Weapons The Psychology of Guerrilla Marketing Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing and Guerrilla Marketing Online How to Succeed with Your Guerrilla Marketing Attack Secrets to Saving Money and Being Creative with Guerrilla Marketing Golden Rules of Guerrilla Marketing Marketing and Technology: A Powerful Combination Guerrilla Marketing in Cyberspace Becoming a Customer Service Superstar Understanding the Impact of the Small-Business Revolution The Power of Advertising the Guerrilla Marketing Way Knowledge and Reality According to Guerrillas

3 The Power of Guerrilla Marketing What is Marketing? Marketing is any contact by any member of your company with any member of the public. This isn t only a formalized process marketing includes every bit of contact, from the way your phone is answered to the way your office looks. This means that everyone in your company is a part of your marketing team. Marketing at its healthiest is a circle that begins with your ideas for how you re going to generate revenue for your business. The circle closes when you are blessed with the patronage of repeat and referral customers. Only when marketing is a circle does it start producing profits for you. Marketing is an extended process, not an event. How is Guerrilla Marketing different from traditional marketing? 1. In traditional marketing, the primary investment is money. In Guerrilla Marketing, the primary investments are time, energy, and imagination. The more of these you invest, the less money you will need. 2. Traditional marketing intimidates many small-business owners who are not familiar with the concept. Guerrilla Marketing removes the mystery that has long surrounded marketing. 3. Traditional marketing has always been geared toward big business. Guerrilla Marketing has always been geared toward small business. 4. Traditional marketing measures how well it s doing by how many sales it generates. Guerrilla Marketing says that sales aren t bad, but profits are the numbers you should focus on. 5. Traditional marketing is based on judgment, which results in guesswork. Guerrilla Marketing is based on the laws of human behavior. 6. Traditional marketing says you should diversify your own business. Guerrilla Marketing says you should always maintain your focus. 7. Traditional marketing focuses on large groups. Guerrilla Marketing focuses on individuals. 3

4 8. Traditional marketing is often unintentional. It is too formalized and often overlooks important elements that aren t commonly considered the realm of marketing. Guerrilla Marketing is completely intentional. Everything the company does is seen as marketing. 9. Traditional marketing says that businesses should grow linearly by adding new customers on a regular basis. Guerrilla Marketing focuses on growing geometrically. In this way, Guerrillas have more transactions for each customer per year, increase their number of referrals, and add new customers, too. 10. Traditional marketing worships at the shrine of competition. Guerrilla Marketing promotes cooperation, which will serve your needs better than competition. 11. Traditional marketing believes that advertising, direct mail, or Web sites work by themselves. Guerrilla Marketing believes the only thing that works is marketing combinations. 12. Traditional marketing focuses on money. Guerrilla Marketing focuses on relationships, which lead to more money a subtle but important difference. 13. Traditional marketing is geared toward taking. Guerrilla Marketing is geared toward giving free information, free consultations, free samples. The more a company gives, the more it gets. 14. Traditional marketing does not make much of an allowance for technology because it changes so rapidly. Guerrilla Marketing embraces new technology whenever it can. 15. Traditional marketing identifies only a few marketing tools, most of which are in the mass media. Guerrilla Marketing identifies 100 different marketing weapons, 62 of which are absolutely free. The meaning of Guerrilla Marketing It all boils down to achieving conventional goals by using unconventional means. The conventional goals are profitability, joy, and success. The unconventional means are realizing that this is a process that will take a long time and many different weapons. You should feel in total control of your marketing at all times. 4

5 The importance of knowledge Guerrilla Marketing requires knowledge, but not the kind that comes from books. You need first-hand knowledge of your customers, what makes them tick, and what they re all about. You need knowledge of your prospects. What are they looking for in their lives? You need knowledge of your competitors. Even though a Guerrilla should always try to cooperate, your competitors will still be trying to compete. You need knowledge of businesses equivalent to yours, in your city, in your state, in your country, and around the world. You need knowledge of your industry and its changing face. You need knowledge of new technology that will affect your business and marketing. You need knowledge of current events because they might affect your marketing reality. You need knowledge of economic trends. Your customers and prospects will expect this from you. You need knowledge of your own product or service what makes it good, why people want it, and what might make it better. You need knowledge of your own community and the opportunities available for you there. You need knowledge of successful marketing. What s been out there for a while and what works? Why have the Maytag Repairman, the Energizer Bunny, and the Pillsbury Doughboy been around for so long? Exercises Whatever else you do, you are also in the marketing business. What have your marketing efforts looked like to date? How can you see them evolving as you become a Guerrilla Marketer? What are some ways you can increase the commitment of marketing in your business? Increasing your knowledge in many areas is the key to Guerrilla Marketing. What are some resources you can use to find the information you need? Make the resolution to spend time every week on this important pursuit. Take the time to study the way other companies market their products or services. Pay special attention to the marketing strategies you know have been successful. What can you learn from them? 5

6 Guerrilla Marketing Weapons Marketing Plan: A focused, seven-sentence plan for the marketing of your company. 2. Marketing Calendar: A projection of your marketing plan for a year into the future. This prevents emergencies, makes purchasing and budgetary decisions easier, and allows for an easy year-end analysis of which of your strategies worked and which didn t. 3. Niche/Positioning: Your positioning is where you stand in the minds of your prospects. Your niche is the portion of the population you wish to attract. These should shine through as you use all of your marketing weapons. 4. Company Name: There are only two kinds of names good names and bad names. Bad names remind people of another business, are difficult to spell or pronounce, or prohibit future expansion. Almost everything else is a good name. 5. Identity: This stems from truth and honesty about who your company is and what it stands for. Identity is the opposite of image, which is defined as a façade. 6. Logo: A visual representation of your company. This should look good at any size. A logo is a very important choice to make and should never be changed once you ve decided upon a good one. Two million businesses are formed in America each year, and your logo will help you stand out from these. 7. Theme Line: This is a set of words that summarizes what you stand for. Examples are Fly the Friendly Skies of United or This Bud s for You. These should increase recognition of your business over time. 8. Stationery: A subtle but important influence on your customers. Many opinions about a business will be based on its stationery, so make sure yours is attractive and fulfills your identity. 9. Business Card: A fantastic source of information about your company. Your business card should have all of your contact information, your logo, and, in many cases, is more effective if it folds open and contains additional information inside. 10. Inside Signs: Inside signs influence people at the point of purchase. They solidify the notion of what the customer is buying by connecting the marketing they ve seen outside your business with the product inside. 11. Outside Signs: These refer to something far cheaper and, in some ways, much more powerful than billboards. Investigate ways of advertising on community bulletin boards, where many people advertise their services. You can target the audience you reach by the location of the board. 6

7 12. Hours of Operation: A powerful marketing weapon you won t find in any book. In our 24-hour society, people need access to you when it s convenient for them. Make sure your customers can always reach a live person, voice mail, , or fax machine. 13. Days of Operation: Your business is not run for your convenience, but rather for the convenience of your customers. Being open on weekends could vastly increase the profits of many kinds of companies. 14. Window Display: These generate instant responses in the form of impulse purchases. Even if you don t have a window, consider partnering with someone who does. Window displays are a shorthand method for announcing all the good things about your place of business. 15. Concept: Every decade seems to be powered by a concept. In the 1980s, it was quality. In the 1990s, it was flexibility. In the new millennium, the overriding concept is going to be innovation. Make sure you are in step with the concepts of your times. 16. Word of Mouth: This marketing is based on the good things you do in your business, and it can be improved in the following ways. Take advantage of the moment of maximum satisfaction, the period up to 30 days after the customer makes a purchase during which the customer is enthusiastic enough to spread the word. By developing a first-time customer brochure, you re providing them with the right words to spread. Win them over so they will recommend you to many others. 17. Community Involvement: This is one of the most important weapons. The more you re involved with your community, the more they will be involved with you. Community involvement means connecting and aligning yourself with your community. This allows the members of your community to see your business as a friend, and it provides many valuable networking opportunities for you. 18. Neatness: Your customers will assume that you ll treat them in the same way you treat your premises. This is why your place of business should always be exactingly neat and clean. 19. Referral Program: A formalized process by which you ask all of your customers for the names of other people who might benefit from being on your mailing list. 20. Sharing: Putting yourself in a situation where you get to share marketing war stories. It s a great way to get ideas from others who have similar challenges to yours. 7

8 21. Guarantee: People don t like to take risks with their purchases, so a guarantee will make them feel better about parting with their money. A great competitive advantage is to offer a five-year guarantee when everyone else s lasts only one year. Exercises (Guerrilla Marketing Weapons 1-21) Many of the marketing weapons from this session refer to the structure and appearance of your business. What about your business can you change in light of this new information? What is your business s identity? How well is this reflected in your log, business card, and other marketing materials? What is your positioning in your market? What is your positioning in your community? What is the concept that is powering the marketplace today? How well does your business reflect this concept? What are some ways you can improve your business s performance? 8

9 Guerrilla Marketing Weapons Telemarketing: This marketing weapon works best when it s used business-tobusiness and when operating from a script. Gift Certificates: These work exceptionally well for businesses that never thought to use them before. Merely adding the line Ask about our gift certificates to your promotions can lead to thousands of dollars in extra sales per year. 24. Brochures: One of the most important marketing weapons, brochures enable you to provide all the details about your business to prospective clients. These are given out only to those who request them, and they can be used effectively in a two-step marketing campaign. 25. Electronic Brochures: This combines your brochure with media other than paper, such as an audiocassette or videocassette. Electronic brochures are attention-grabbing and are very effective when used in two-step marketing campaigns. 26. Location: The most important location of all is the Internet because Americans are quickly learning to shop for products using this new medium. A word of caution about physical location: if you own a retail store with the best location in town, make sure your prime location doesn t lull you into a false sense of security. Your other marketing efforts must still be top-notch! 27. Advertising: Advertising doesn t work by itself, only in the presence of all your other marketing weapons. They re symbiotic. But remember that advertising is only 1% of a successful marketing campaign. 28. Sales Training: This should be done weekly and repetitively. Sales training has a low cost but very high effectiveness. 29. Networking: This has the opposite meaning of what networking is to most people. Instead of surrounding yourself with peers, surround yourself with prospects. Instead of doing all the talking, ask questions and listen carefully to the answers. Instead of handing out your business card, look your prospect in the eye and ask for his or hers. Networking is about building relationships. 30 Quality: This is the second most important reason people patronize the businesses they do. Quality is not necessarily what you put into your product or service, it s what people get out of it. 9

10 31 Reprints and Blow Ups: When you run a print ad or when your business is mentioned favorably in the press, make copies and hang these clippings on community bulletin boards. You can also hang them in your business, include them in future mailings, or blow them up large and put them in your display window. 32 Flip Charts: These may be the least glamorous weapon, but they re very powerful. Flip charts give order, flow, and a strong visual element to a presentation. 33 Opportunities to Upgrade: These give your customer an incentive to spend more money with you. A larger, economy version of your product or a package deal save the customer money overall and contribute more to your bottom line. 34 Contests and Sweepstakes: These generate names for your mailing lists and generate excitement about your company. 35 Barter: An unfamiliar concept for most people, but it s an excellent way of getting the things you need and spreading the word about your company without spending a lot of money. 36 Club/Association Memberships: With these memberships, you can get industry information and separate yourself from the ranks of strangers. These are excellent places to showcase how hard you work, your quality, and your devotion. 37 Partial Payment Plans: Make it as easy as possible for people to pay for what you re selling. Offer an installment plan and accept all credit cards, not just the most popular ones. 38 Causes: Having a cause is a fast-growing marketing strategy in the United States. Most people will patronize your business if they are aware that, by doing so, they are contributing to a social or environmental cause. 39. Telephone Demeanor: How your telephone is answered is extremely important in terms of how your company is viewed by your prospects. Customers shouldn t be treated as an interruption of business, but rather why you re in business in the first place. 40. Toll-Free Number: These increase response rates to your offers anywhere from 30 to 700% when dealing with non-local prospects. Also a caveat make sure you don t spell a word with your phone number. People think they don t have to write down these word-based phone numbers because they ll remember them, but they often don t. 10

11 41. Free Consultations: These are easy to say yes to they imply that there will be no pressure and a lot of good information offered. But remember, it s not a presentation, it s a valuable consultation. Ask a lot of questions, but put a time limit on the appointment. 42. Free Seminars/Clinics: These are like free consultations to a lot of people. Offer information of value but don t try to sell anything until the very end. The people who attend these seminars are the hottest prospects. 43. Free Demonstrations: A chance for a prospect to see your product or service in person with no risk. 44. Free Samples: Giving away free samples of your product (or a smaller version of your service) is like buying new customers. 45. A Giver s Stance: Some companies are givers, some are takers. Take the giver s stance. Offer free consultations, seminars, demonstrations, samples, newsletters. People are attracted to giver companies and they avoid taker companies. Ask yourself what your customers want for free, then give it to them. 46. Fusion Marketing: This means marketing your company jointly with another business to share the costs and rewards. It can be as simple as displaying each other s brochures to forming a leads club. Exercises (Guerrilla Marketing Weapons 22-46) Many of the marketing weapons from this session focus on how your business reaches out to its prospects. How would you describe and rate your current efforts in this area? How might you improve? What is it like to contact your company by telephone? Is it easy for your customers to get through? Do they have to pay a long-distance fee? Once they get through, how are they treated? Make sure your company is seen as a giving company. What are some things you can give away to your customers and prospects? Consultations? Seminars? Demonstrations? Samples? Name 20 possible fusion-marketing partners and how you might be of service to each other. 11

12 Guerrilla Marketing Weapons Marketing on Hold: Simply playing company advertising when your customers are on-hold will generate a lot of interest in your specials and breakthroughs. 48. Past Success Stories: Showcase everything you ve done right in the past. Mention the names of the clients you ve helped and specifics of what you did for them. 49. Employee Attire: This doesn t necessarily mean establishing a dress code, but just know where to draw the line in terms of what is acceptable for your employees to wear. Make sure your employees represent the identity of your business. 50. Service: The third most important reason people patronize the businesses they do. Service is anything a customer wants it to be. Go way beyond customer satisfaction and customer delight to customer bliss. 51. Follow-up: Possibly the most important marketing weapon. Sixty-eight percent of lost business in America is from ignoring a customer after a sale. Send thankyou notes. Inquire as to their satisfaction. Follow up again at regular intervals. 52. Yourself and Your Employees: People have to buy you (or your employees) before they buy what you re selling. You are your own best marketing weapon. 53. Advertising Specialties: These are free gifts you can offer to increase your response rates. The best gifts include your business name AND your customer s name because this helps them make you part of their identity, and vice versa. 54. Catalog: People keep catalogs longer than they keep any marketing materials. Make sure you have a version online. 55. Yellow Pages Ads: Only use these if people regularly look for your sort of business in the yellow pages. If they do, forget about a beautiful design make your ad as full of information as you can. But don t direct people to look for your ad in the yellow pages that just invites them to see your competition. And if there are a lot of ads in your category, look for unique ways you can stand out. 56. Columns: Offer to write a column for local or relevant publications say you ll do it for free and request only that they identify your business and its phone number or Web address. Use the column not to sell your own company, but to offer valuable information. You can then use these as reprints (see weapon 31). 57. Articles: If you don t have time to write a regular column, writing an article (again, for free, as long as they print your business name and number) can be just as good. This establishes you as an expert and gives you plenty of material for reprinting. 12

13 58. Become a Speaker: Offer your services, for free, as a speaker on your business s field of expertise. In appreciation of your time, you will attract a lot of new business from that organization. 59. Newsletter: This is a great opportunity to follow up and stay in touch with your customers on a regular basis. Follow the rule of 75/25 when doing a newsletter 75% useful information, 25% sales information about your new products. 60. All Audiences: Determine all of the possible audiences for your product or service and pay attention to more than one of them. 61. Benefits List: This is a list of all the benefits of working with your company, with special attention paid to your competitive advantages. A benefits list should be created with the input of all levels of your business, as well as at least one customer who can provide an objective view. 62. Computer: No longer a luxury, computers are an absolute necessity for doing business today. They provide databases, information from worldwide sources, and easy production of many marketing materials. Use a computer! 63. Selection: This is an important reason people patronize the businesses they do. Make sure your products and services cover the full spectrum of what s expected from you. 64. Contact Time with Customer: The time the customer spends in your presence is a great opportunity to establish a relationship. You can also use this time to expand on the purchase they re making. 65. Hello and Goodbye: Say hello by making eye contact, smiling, and using the customer s name. Use the name again when you say goodbye. This is yet another chance to build a relationship. 66. Public Relations: Seventy-four percent of all the news in the newspaper has been planted there. Use the power of the media to get your business name out there, and use the resulting articles as reprints (see weapon 31). 67. Media Contacts: The media are inundated with request for free publicity, so the chances of your publicity appearing increase if you have contacts in the media. 68. Online Marketing: One of the most important forms of marketing available. Americans are increasingly turning to the Internet to shop, so start focusing your marketing efforts in this direction now! 69. Classified Ads: These are of growing importance because of the increase in the number of classifications available; and they get a lot of readership. There are also a number of free places to post your ad online. 13

14 70. Newspaper Ads: The majority of small-business marketing still occurs in newspaper ads, and its power comes from repetition. Your ad doesn t have to be huge, but make sure it appears at least once a week. 71. Magazine Ads: You re judged by where you advertise, and magazines give the greatest credibility of all. Try advertising in the local edition of a national magazine, and you only have to do it once. Your ad from the national magazine is then available to you as a reprint (see weapon 31). 72. Radio: Advertise on stations with active listeners, such as those with news shows or talk radio. These listeners are paying attention. People who listen to music stations don t pay as much attention to the advertisements. Exercises (Guerrilla Marketing Weapons 47-72) Many of the marketing weapons from this session focus on how your prospects are introduced to your business. What are the prime ways you currently attract customers? What shifts in your marketing do you now recognize might improve your bottom line? How much advertising do you currently run? How effective has it been? What are some other areas into which you might expand your advertising? Create a list of benefits of dealing with your business. What are some of your competitive advantages? How well have you done with communicating these benefits and advantages to your customers in the past, and how might that be improved? 14

15 Guerrilla Marketing Weapons Television: This is still the prime medium for advertising, and it s available at a lower cost than ever before. For the best prices, take advantage of local cable stations. But remember, emphasize the visual element of your commercial. Many people will hit the mute button and not listen to the words. 74. Infomercials: Whatever you think of them, these have a high success rate. Infomercials are a great place to use fusion marketing (see weapon 46), and they cost much less than you might imagine. 75. Movie Commercials: These are the advertisement slides you see before a movie begins at the theater. An excellent marketing tool because they are very inexpensive and very targeted. 76. Direct-Mail Letters: The length of these is not very important, but make sure they are in an appealing envelope and that every letter contains a P.S. 77. Direct-Mail Postcards: These generally draw more of a response than regular direct mail because the message is so concise and readily available to the recipient. 78. Postcard Decks: These are decks of direct-mail postcards, based around a common theme, wrapped in cellophane and mailed to prospects. The response rate is generally higher than for individual postcards, and the cost is much lower than mailing them individually because the price is shared with the other participating companies. Put a special offer on the card. 79. Posters: A growing art form in America. If you have a beautiful ad, consider blowing it up to poster size. Many people may hang it up in their homes and offices if it s really attractive. 80. Fax on Demand: This service can increase your response rate because it provides instant gratification. By dialing a number you ve set up, and entering their own fax number, your customers can have information faxed to them immediately. 81. Special Events: These attract publicity and prospects. Special events are a great activity to arrange with fusion-marketing partners (see weapon 46). 82. Trade Show Displays: Eighty percent of business for many companies comes from this venue. Look into how these can work for you, and invest in an exciting display. Trade shows can pay for themselves many times over because you re catching your prospects in an inquisitive mood. 83. Audio/Visual Aids: Whenever you can, appeal to your audience s visual sense by using diagrams, photographs, and videos. Show things to people rather than telling them, and they ll learn more and act on what they ve learned. 15

16 84. Spare Time: A great time to work on building relationships with your customers. You can use your spare time to write birthday or anniversary cards, letters, clip articles, and do many other little things that will appeal to your clients and let them know you care. 85. Prospects Mailing Lists: These are lists of people who have not yet bought your product but ought to. Use them to your best advantage. 86. Research Studies: We live in the Information Age where knowledge is power. Read studies or, better yet, create them yourself about what sort of things your customers enjoy, what their hobbies are, etc. This can give you a lot of personal information you can then use to build a relationship and better target your marketing. 87. Competitive Advantages: The things that you offer but that your competition doesn t. If you don t have a competitive advantage, invent one. 88. Marketing Insight: Study the insights of expert marketers to come up with new ideas and discover what s best for you. 89. Speed: Time isn t money, it s life itself. People don t want to waste their time. Figure out ways to speed up your response to your customers requests. 90. Testimonials: These are free to obtain and infinitely valuable. Use good testimonials in all of your marketing. Hang them on your walls. 91. Reputation: This is hard to build and easy to destroy. Bad word of mouth spreads faster than wildfire. So guard your reputation and protect it with all you ve got! 92. Enthusiasm: Enthusiasm in your company starts with you, spreads to your employees, and then spreads to your customers. The highest form of enthusiasm is passion. If you don t feel passion for your business, you should consider doing something else. 93. Credibility: People won t trust you without it. Make sure your marketing materials don t look amateurish or homemade. Credibility will enhance all of your other weapons. 94. Spying: Spy on yourself and spy on competitors. Call your company and see how you re treated on the phone. See how your request for information is processed. See if there s follow-up. Then call a competitor and make the same request. Compare the way you re treated both times. 95. Ease of Business: Be easy to do business with at every level, and your company will grow by leaps and bounds. 96. Brand Name Awareness: Your business name has to become a brand name because names are what people trust the most. 16

17 97. Designated Guerrilla: This is the person in your company who loves marketing and loves to get updates on the best kinds of marketing out there to use in your business. If you re a business owner, the best designated guerrilla is yourself. 98. Customer Mailing List: Your current customers all have the potential to become lifelong customers and sources of referrals, so do everything you can to keep in touch with them and find out as much as you can about them. This will help in building lasting relationships. 99. Competitiveness: This is the quality that will ensure enthusiasm for learning and trying new things to grow your business. Competitiveness will make you a better marketer Satisfied Customers: Every one of these is another weapon in your arsenal. Everything you ve done right in the past is a promise of what you will do right in the future. Satisfied customers are a source of referrals, repeat business, testimonials, and reputation. Exercises (Guerrilla Marketing Weapons ) Several of the marketing weapons from this session are based on technology. How much technology do you currently employ in your business? How does that compare with the technological level of your competitors? What new technology could you acquire (or how can you better utilize what you already have) to improve your marketing efforts? People trust brand names the most, and that will draw customers better than anything else. How might you position your product or service as a brand name? Take the time to regularly spy on yourself and your competitors every week, if possible. Look at what you learn as a customer would how do you measure up? How easy is it to do business with you? In the next few days, ask five of your best customers for testimonials and find some ways to incorporate these into your marketing plan. Exercises (Guerrilla Marketing Weapons 1-100) Categorize ALL of the Guerrilla Marketing weapons from the past few sessions using the following system: Category 1 I m using that weapon now, and I m doing a good job of it. Category 2 I m using that weapon now, but the way I m using it could be improved. Category 3 I m not using that weapon now, but I ought to be. Category 4 That weapon is not appropriate for me right now. 17

18 The Psychology of Guerrilla Marketing Traditional marketing relies on guesswork. Guerrilla Marketing relies on psychology to take the guesswork out of why people spend their money. Psychology has helped us effectively answer the following questions for maximum benefit. Why do people decide to make a purchase? Purchase decisions are made in the unconscious mind, which is accessed through the process of repetition. What is the strongest possible marketing strategy? People tend to be either left-brained or right-brained. Left-brained people love logical reasoning. Right-brained people make decisions based on emotions and aesthetics. The strongest marketing strategy combines both of these aspects into one package. What is the strongest bond you can form with your customers? There are two bonds that are formed whenever business is transacted: the human bond and the business bond. Most marketing is aimed at making the business bond stronger, but Guerrilla Marketing focuses on the human bond. Instead of talking about business right away with a prospect, you might talk about sports or current events. The stronger the human bond, the stronger the business bond will be. And the human bond is perfected through the art of listening. What are the messages that marketing sends? All marketing contains two messages. The first is called the stated message, which is what you want the marketing to say. The other message is the meta message. This refers to the message behind the stated message. In other words, what did your ad look like? What did your commercial sound like? What degree of professionalism was there? You need to be aware that this communicates as much as your stated message. 18

19 How does Guerrilla Marketing use psychology to make a profit? Guerrillas embrace the idea that the only way to get a share of the market is to first gain a share of the mind and if you gain a share of the mind, the market will follow. There are two schools of thought in American marketing today: Freudian and Skinarian. Freudian is traditional marketing based on an attitudinal change. It s been relied upon for a long time to bring a message to a prospect and change his or her attitude to the degree that they want to act on it. Skinarian marketing is based on the studies of B. F. Skinner, the behavioral psychologist who talked about behavior modification. If you were to use this philosophy, you could place an ad stating This wonderful value is available to you only if you act by April fifteenth. This modifies a person s behavior. If they don t take action by the fifteenth, they will lose out on the special deal. Guerrilla Marketers use both. They are constantly trying to change people s attitudes and increase their awareness while peppering them with special offers and good reasons to come in and buy now. How do Guerrilla Marketers treat their customers? Guerrillas know that all customers are not created equal. That s why they have an A list of customers and a B list of customers. The A list is comprised of the people who buy the most, spend the most, and are the easiest to sell to. They create the least problems. The B list is all their other customers. Guerrilla s treat the B list like royalty and the A list like family. Nobody gets ignored, but the A list gets special attention. Your best customers should be treated that way. 19

20 How do Guerrilla Marketers make it easier to buy from them? Guerrillas understand that to buy anything is a difficult decision because people are afraid to make a mistake. For someone to change their purchase pattern and buy something from you is a hard step. Guerrillas make the decision easier by creating soft steps. Soft steps are a free consultation, a free seminar, a brochure, a demonstration, or a sample. Once someone has taken one or more of these soft steps, the step of buying doesn t seem nearly as hard. What does color have to do with your marketing campaign? Research has shown that color is very important to the decision-making process. Advertising that is done in color increases the retention of the message by 57% and improves the inclination to buy by 41%. Color costs more, of course, but these figures make up for the extra expenditure. How can you stand out from the competition? One of the things that will help the most is your attention to details. The more attention you pay to what other people tend to overlook, the more you ll stand out. Your customers know the difference. These details create a deeper psychological bond. Signing letters and writing notes in your own handwriting is an important detail. Personal phone calls are an important detail. These cost no money but end up making your customers feel unique and special. How do Guerrillas view marketing? Differently than other people. They don t view marketing as a way to sell their product or gain more profits, although these benefits always result from the Guerrilla attitude. Guerrillas view marketing as an opportunity to educate their prospects to succeed at whatever it is their prospects want to succeed at. Marketing is your chance to help your prospects succeed. Marketing for Guerrillas is the art and science and business of getting people to change their minds to the point where they want your product or service. 20

21 What are the characteristics of a successful marketer? Successful marketers the world over have the same set of personality characteristics in common: 1. Patience. Scientific studies have shown that it takes nine exposures to a marketing message to move someone from total apathy to purchase readiness. The problem is that for every three messages you put out, people will only pay attention to one. This means you actually have to put the message out 27 times before the prospect takes action. But this takes a lot of time, and when results don t come soon, most marketers start over and change their message to one they think will work better. This is a mistake. A successful marketer has the patience to keep putting out the same message even when the profits aren t rising yet. 2. Imagination. Imagination isn t just about clever headlines or visuals, it s about coming up with new ways of having your message penetrate into the minds of your audience. If you re using direct mail and know that your prospects receive tons of it every day, imagine what you can do to make your piece stand out. Using 11 different stamps on the envelope might do it, or sending the mail from Portugal so a foreign stamp and postcard will grab their attention. That s imagination. 3. Sensitivity. Successful marketers are sensitive to their market, their time in history, the time of year, what their competition is doing or saying, and any other background factors that might affect their success. But they re most sensitive to what is going on in their prospect s mind. And with that sensitivity, they are able to say the right things to the right people at the right time. 4. Eagle Strength. After being exposed to the same message every day, the people in your life might start to get bored with it and ask you to market in a different way. Your co-workers and employees may say things like, I m getting tired of your marketing. Don t you think it s time to change it? But the fact is, your customer is not bored with your marketing. They will spend any amount of time reading your marketing materials trying to justify the fact that they re doing business with you. So successful marketers have the strength to stand up to the wellmeaning people who don t understand how marketing works. 21

22 5. Generosity. Successful marketers think in terms of what they can give rather than what they can take. They want to share important information with their customers and give away things that they might like. Generosity opens the conduits through which the profits flow. 6. Aggressiveness. Although they re allowed to be shy in other situations, Guerrillas are aggressive marketers. They won t hesitate to spend more money in the beginning of their marketing campaigns because they know that as their profits rise, the percentage of the total income spent on advertising will fall. 7. Constant Learning. Successful marketers realize that life is changing, technology is changing, and marketing especially is changing and unless they keep up, they re falling behind. Therefore, constantly learning one thing after another is the only way to prosper in changing times. 8. Action. Successful marketers are people of action. They are not just thinkers, they re doers. What do Guerrilla Marketers look for in television commercials? Guerrillas look for motivation more than entertainment. A commercial should be clear about its competitive advantage. Television is a visual medium and commercials should take advantage of that and be intensely visual. Professional-looking production is very important. Amateurish commercials should be avoided at all costs. Commercials should be believable and compelling. Viewers should feel a powerful desire from watching the commercial. Advertisers should focus on the reasons for buying the product and not on being clever or having special effects or using a celebrity spokesperson. Great advertising demonstrates the benefits of great products. Commercials should be fascinating every time they re experienced. What s funny once won t be funny the tenth time. Successful commercials, however, always peak the interest. 22

23 Exercises Choose some of your best customers and ask them why they decided to do business with you. How does this compare to what you now know about the psychology of consumerism? What are some ways you can use this information to attract even more customers? What are some messages that your marketing of the past has sent? In reviewing them now, do you think you sent the correct message? What was your presentation like? Did it look absolutely professional and painstaking, or did it look more amateurish? What steps can you take to increase your professional image? What are some details you can pay attention to that will amaze your customers? Which of these are not offered by your competition? How many characteristics of a successful marketer do you embody? If it s not all eight, make a commitment right now to take action on more of them in the next few months. These are the characteristics that will forever determine your success in business, so work hard to make all of them a part of your life! 23

24 13 Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing and Guerrilla Marketing Online The 13 powerful secrets of Guerrilla Marketing Commitment: Even mediocre marketing with commitment works much better than brilliant marketing without commitment. Commitment is what you need to keep going even when the results are slow in coming but you will get results if you persevere. Commitment is what it takes to be a world leader in your field. Investment: Nothing you spend on marketing is an expense. Marketing is always an investment in your future prosperity. It s the best investment you can make because the returns are high and there s absolutely no risk if you do it right and you re learning here how to do it right. Consistent: It takes a while for people to get to know about you, so you must be consistent in your identity and your approach to marketing. The headlines can change, the offers can change, even the prices can change, but your media and your message must be consistent. Confident: Confidence is another reason people patronize the businesses they do their confidence in you and your confidence in your own business. Your customers will gain confidence when they see your level of commitment to them and to the investment of consistent marketing. Patient: Patience is the key to all of the secrets so far. Become a patient person. Assortment: None of your weapons works by itself not advertising, not direct mail, not Web sites, not telemarketing. Successful marketing campaigns use a wide assortment of weapons. So test as many as you can to compile the assortment that works best for you. Convenient: Everything you offer must be convenient to your customers. They will appreciate your awareness of how valuable their time is and the elimination of any of your practices that may waste it. Your product must be easy to find and easy to pay for. Subsequent to the Sale: Making a sale is great, but Guerrillas know that profits don t really start flowing until after the sale is made. That s when the lucrative opportunities for repeat and referral business will soon have the money flowing in. 24

25 Amazement: People would be absolutely amazed if they knew what you went though in order to offer the excellence that you do. Use your marketing as an opportunity to generate that amazement because it will lead to attention. People want to be amazed. Measurement: You must know the truth about your marketing campaigns effectiveness, and that means accurately measuring how well each weapon works for you. Find out what is leading your customers to you, and concentrate on those areas. Involvement: Your customers want you to be involved with their success. You display your involvement through your follow-up, your attention to their details, the friendly relationship you build. And they can be involved with your business, too, by completing customer questionnaires and providing testimonial letters. Dependent: We are no longer in the age of the lone wolf. We are an interdependent society. Your business is dependent on every other business in your city, state, country and, through the Internet, the world. Making strategic alliances and fusion marketing arrangements is the way to stay at the forefront of your field. Armament: This is the equipment necessary to wage and win battles. The armament of Guerrillas is technology. Fax machines, pagers, advanced voice mail, computers these are the types of equipment you will need to win the war. The rules for Guerrilla Marketing online You have to be good at marketing in general before you ll be good at marketing online. And when you do start marketing online, you have to know what it entails. Online marketing goes beyond having a Web site. It extends into , becoming active in forums, and involving yourself in relevant chat rooms. It s linking to and from other sites, hosting online conferences, and posting classifieds. Online marketing means research. The more information you have, the better marketing you can do. Online marketing means promoting your Web site online. Most importantly, online marketing means becoming familiar with how the Web works. The people who are losing money online think that just because they have a Web site, people will visit it. It doesn t work like that. 25

26 8 important elements of a Web site 1. Planning: Why do you want a Web site in the first place? What do you expect it to do? What will your customers gain from it? Once you have a clear view of your mission, it will be easier to carry it out. 2. Content: The content is what will bring people back for more. When people visit your Web site, you want them to have wonderful experiences loaded with content that s fresh and new all the time. 3. Design: This refers to what your site looks like. There is a moment right after a visitor comes to the site called the stay or bail moment. This is when he or she decides, based on what your site looks like, whether they will look at your site or go somewhere else and this decision is based solely on how your site looks. If it s ugly or amateurish, people are going to leave. 4. Area of Involvement: A successful Web site involves interactivity. Get your visitors to participate in a pool, complete a survey, answer some questions, or register to get a prize. This is a great way to get to know the names and addresses of the people who come to your site. 5. Production: You can either hire a designer to create your site or buy the software that will allow you to do it yourself. Remember, your site needs to be changed at least weekly, or else you ll fall behind. 6. Follow-up: Never take for granted the fact that someone has gotten in touch with you. Follow up every online contact you get, by , by an order confirmation, by a thank-you letter anything. Just make sure you stay in touch with the people who visit your site on a regular basis. Get them to come back over and over and make visiting your site a part of their daily routine. 7. Promotion: When you go online, you exist in a vacuum. Nobody will know you re there unless you promote that site offline. Include your Web address in all of your marketing. 8. Maintenance: A Web site is like a baby. It s not something you can put out in the world and forget about. It s something that needs nurturing and attention on a regular basis. 26

27 What you must master You must also master the ability of being concise. People s eyes behave differently when viewing things on an illuminated screen. They are attracted to short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. Break the information into bits and pieces. Personalization is another ability to master. Make sure your responses are personal. Make people feel unique. And the last truth is the rule of thirds: When you determine what your online marketing budget will be, divide that budget into three equal parts. The first third should be spent on development (planning, writing, design, etc.). The second third should be spent on promotion (online and offline marketing of the site). The final third should be spent on maintenance (keeping your site fresh and updated). Exercises Rate every one of your marketing strategies, past and present, by the 13 secrets of Guerrilla Marketing (commitment, investment, consistent, confident, patient, assortment, convenient, subsequent to the sale, amazement, measurement, involvement, dependent, and armament). Give yourself a letter grade, from A to F, for each category. If you don t currently have an online presence, list all the ways you think it s possible to benefit from this investment. If you do, list the benefits you ve received so far and the ones you hope to receive in the future. For each of these benefits, create a strategy based on at least one of the eight important elements of a Web site (planning, content, design, area of involvement, production, follow-up, promotion, and maintenance). 27